Quantum mechanics predicts that measurements of incompatible observables carry a minimum uncertainty which is independent of technical deficiencies of the measurement apparatus or incomplete knowledge of the state of the system. Nothing yet seems to prevent a single physical quantity, such as one spin component, from being measured with arbitrary precision. Here, we show that an intrinsic quantum uncertainty on a single observable is ineludible in a number of physical situations. When revealed on local observables of a bipartite system, such uncertainty defines an entire class of bona fide measures of nonclassical correlations. For the case of $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}d$ systems, we find that a unique measure is defined, which we evaluate in closed form. We then discuss the role that these correlations, which are of the ``discord'' type, can play in the context of quantum metrology. We show in particular that the amount of discord present in a bipartite mixed probe state guarantees a minimum precision, as quantified by the quantum Fisher information, in the optimal phase estimation protocol.

Characterizing nonclassical correlations via local quantum uncertainty.

Quantum Fisher information matrix (QFIM) is a core concept in theoretical quantum metrology due to the significant importance of quantum Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound in quantum parameter estimation. However, studies in recent years have revealed wide connections between QFIM and other aspects of quantum mechanics, including quantum thermodynamics, quantum phase transition, entanglement witness, quantum speed limit and non-Markovianity. These connections indicate that QFIM is more than a concept in quantum metrology, but rather a fundamental quantity in quantum mechanics. In this paper, we summarize the properties and existing calculation techniques of QFIM for various cases, and review the development of QFIM in some aspects of quantum mechanics apart from quantum metrology. On the other hand, as the main application of QFIM, the second part of this paper reviews the quantum multiparameter Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound, its attainability condition and the associated optimal measurements. Moreover, recent developments in a few typical scenarios of quantum multiparameter estimation and the quantum advantages are also thoroughly discussed in this part.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1751-8121/ab5d4d/pdf

Quantum Fisher information matrix and multiparameter estimation

We derive a bound on the ability of a linear-optical network to estimate a linear combination of independent phase shifts by using an arbitrary nonclassical but unentangled input state, thereby elucidating the quantum resources required to obtain the Heisenberg limit with a multiport interferometer. Our bound reveals that while linear networks can generate highly entangled states, they cannot effectively combine quantum resources that are well distributed across multiple modes for the purposes of metrology: In this sense, linear networks endowed with well-distributed quantum resources behave classically. Conversely, our bound shows that linear networks can achieve the Heisenberg limit for distributed metrology when the input photons are concentrated in a small number of input modes, and we present an explicit scheme for doing so.

https://link.aps.org/accepted/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.043604

Distributed Quantum Metrology with Linear Networks and Separable Inputs.

Every imaging system has a resolution limit, typically defined by Rayleigh's criterion. Given a fixed number of photons, the amount of information one can gain from an image about the separation between two sources falls to zero as the separation drops below this limit, an effect dubbed ``Rayleigh's curse.'' Recently, in a quantum-information--inspired proposal, Tsang and co-workers found that there is, in principle, infinitely more information present in the full electromagnetic field in the image plane than in the intensity alone, and suggested methods for extracting this information and beating the Rayleigh limit. In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate a simple scheme that captures most of this information, and show that it has a greatly improved ability to estimate the distance between a pair of closely separated sources, achieving near-quantum-limited performance and immunity to Rayleigh's curse.

Beating Rayleigh's Curse by Imaging Using Phase Information

We introduce the concepts of cohering and decohering power of quantum channels. Using the axiomatic definition of the coherence measure, we show that the optimization required for calculations of these measures can be restricted to pure input states and hence greatly simplified. We then use two examples of this measure, one based on the skew information and the other based on the ${l}_{1}$ norm; we find the cohering and decohering measures of a number of one-, two-, and $n$-qubit channels. Contrary to the view at first glance, it is seen that quantum channels can have cohering power. It is also shown that a specific property of a qubit unitary map is that it has equal cohering and decohering power in any basis. Finally, we derive simple relations between cohering and decohering powers of unitary qubit gates and their tensor products, results which have physically interesting implications.

Cohering and decohering power of quantum channels

The subject of this paper is a mathematical transition from the Fisher information of classical statistics to the matrix formalism of quantum theory. If the monotonicity is the main requirement, then there are several quantum versions parametrized by a function. In physical applications the minimal is the most popular. There is a one-to-one correspondence between Fisher informations (called also monotone metrics) and abstract covariances. The skew information and the chi-square-divergence are treated here as particular cases.

Introduction to quantum Fisher information

The subject of this paper is a mathematical transition from the Fisher information of classical statistics to the matrix formalism of quantum theory. If the monotonicity is the main requirement, then there are several quantum versions parametrized by a function. In physical applications the minimal is the most popular. There is a one-to-one correspondence between Fisher informations (called also monotone metrics) and abstract covariances. The skew information and the χ2-divergence are treated here as particular cases.

Catalin Ghinea

Papers

Introduction to quantum Fisher information

Introduction to Quantum Fisher Information